More than just a Broken Soul
by Kaitmiller17
Summary: Maka and Soul run into some trouble with a Kishin and Maka gets seriously injured. This is a weird kind of Anime/Manga mix. It wouldn't really fit into a timeline with either and theirs bits and pieces from each of their plots.


Where does our story begin? It begins here but I'll tell you what got us _here._

January

We went on a mission. It's no big deal, really. I'm a Death Scythe so a pre-kishin is nothing for Maka and I. It wasn't really a problem either. On the occasion we get banged up a little but we're okay with that, it wouldn't be any fun if it didn't put up a good fight.

But something went wrong. Maka got hit and it wasn't really a big deal until she landed. She's hit walls before but the way she screamed out told me that something was different. Maka collapsed and I swear not even a hair moved on her head. She was limp like a doll and the scream that left my lips rivalled her own.

I didn't have time to reach her and had to go right for the monster that was going in for the kill. I neatly lobbed its head off and ignored the floating soul as I quickly went to Maka.

Her breathing was shallow but the fact that she was indeed breathing reassured me.

"Maka." I whispered gently. "Are you alright? Where does it hurt?"

"Soul. It's okay. I don't hurt at all."

Those words made me sick. I think that those words were the scariest I've heard in my life.

"Maka. Open your eyes."

"I'm tired. Just let me rest a little."

"No. Maka Albarn, you better open your damn eyes right now."

"Alright. Only 'cause it's you."

She opened them and her pupils were so dilated that her beautiful evergreens were almost black.

"You stay awake. I need to go call Kid. I'm going to get Stein to come help us, okay?"

"I'm okay. I'm just tired. Help me up?"

"Maka-"

"I'll get up without you if you don't"

"Stay. I swear if you move I'll- I don't know. Just stay put."

She crossed her arms over her chest and made no attempt to sit up.

"Thank you."

I ran to the nearest glass surface and called the Death Room. Kid picked up in only a couple rings and he looked confused. I don't blame him.

"Soul, where's Maka?"

"She's hurt. I need Stein here right now."

"Soul, you're crying."

I touched my face to find that, indeed, I was..

"She said she doesn't hurt but, Kid, she hit so hard…"

"I'll send Stein. Stay where you are."

"Okay. Thank you."

"Soul, you need to go sit with Maka."

I was in shock. I simply nodded and went back to sit with my Meister. I couldn't even touch her in fear of messing something up and I just sat in a daze as I waited for help.

So, that's how I got here. That's why I'm sitting in the dispensary holding Maka's hand as she bawls and bawls. The crying was hard on me too. It was my fault. Totally my fault that my Meister would never walk again. That she'll no longer be a Meister.

What is Maka Albarn after you take away the one thing that she worked her whole life to achieve?

February

Maka gets let out of the dispensary a month later. Stein worked like the mad man he is to try and find a way to help her but he couldn't find anything. She is completely paralyzed from the hips down and there is nothing any of us can do to help her.

She was relieved to be going home but I knew that she still had a sliver of hope that she could walk again until this morning.

We got home and she wheeled herself into the apartment building. I tried to help but she wouldn't let me push her. I understand what she's going through so I let her push herself into the creaky elevator and down the hall when we reach our floor.

I unlock the door and open it and she tries to wheel through the doorway. She gets a wheel stuck on one side and it takes her a minute to get herself unstuck and into the apartment.

She makes her way in and into the living room. She looks around as she goes and I can tell by her glances that's she really missed being home.

"Are you hungry at all?"

"A little."

"I'll make you something, what do you want?"

"I can make something for myself!"

"So? Just 'cause you can doesn't mean you have to. I just asked 'cause I was going to make something for myself anyways." This is the only safe way I've found to handle her. If I try and comfort her after these outbursts she just gets even madder so I just blow them off like nothing happened and she seems to be okay with it.

"I- I'll just have whatever you want then."

"Hm. I was thinking either grilled cheese or omurice."

"Do you have leftover rice in the fridge?"

"I do."

"How old is it?"

"Hmm. Couple days."

"Then you should finish that before it goes bad."

"What would I do without you?"

"Have a proper Meister…"

"No I wouldn't. My Meister is you and will always be you."

"I can't be your Meister anymore. You should go find someone else."

"You're still going to school aren't you? Kid said you could graduate with us."

"Yeah. I'm finishing."

"Then you're still a Meister and you're still _my _Meister."

"But-"

"No. No buts. I've made my decision."

"The Meister makes the decisions and the weapon listens."

"Good. We're on the same page."

"No! That's not what I meant!"

"As long as you're my Meister then you make the rules but as soon as you decide not to be I make the rules and my rule is that you will always be my Meister. Got it?"

"Why?" She's pleading now.

"I can't imagine being anyone else's partner. I think if I ever got one I'd just always be comparing them with you and they'd never be good enough."

"Don't say that. It's not true."

"Isn't it? Lay out the facts, Maka. At thirteen you figured out how to use Witch Hunter and we weren't even fully resonating yet. You've made 'The Last Death Scythe' and, hell, the youngest one ever. You were a crucial part in sealing the Kishin. Without you we'd be lost in the madness forever. And then there's everything in between."

She doesn't say anything and just looks away from him.

"Those are _facts_, Maka."

"They don't matter anymore. I might as well be dead now."

"Don't you dare say that!" I'm mad now. I try not to be but she needs to understand something. I can't let the girl I love eat away at herself like this.

She looks up at me in surprise and after a few breathes she finally speaks. "But what am I good for now?"

"You can go live a normal life. You don't have to fear for your life and you can go get married and be human."

"Who would ever love me?"

If only you knew.

Should I tell her?

It's true and she needs it.

"I do."

The silence is so thick you can almost feel it. It's a sickly presence. The silence is the unknown.

She opens her mouth a couple times to speak but closes it again and goes back to her thoughts.

She finally looks up to me with furrowed brows and I know she believes me.

"Since when?"

"Always."

"I'm no good to love. I'm useless as a woman now."

"You're not a piece of meat, stupid. I love you for your head."

"Don't you ever want a family? You'd just be wasting your time on me."

"I've never cared much for my family. If I just had you it would be enough."

"Would I really be enough for you?"

"Depends."  
"O-on what?"  
"Well, if you love me back then yes."  
"And if I don't?"  
"Then I'll feel like a total tool but I won't leave your side until you find someone else."  
"Isn't that a cruel fate?"  
"I chose it though."  
"Don't. Don't wait for me. Just leave now. I don't want you getting hurt by staying by me."

"Sure, it'll hurt to see you with someone else but it would hurt more to see you alone."  
"Go find someone else, Soul. Don't waste the time you could be using to find someone else on me."  
"You know about Soulmates."  
"You do too. Two people whose soul's are destined to entwine. But you know that every person has a Soulmate and only one. If I don't love you then I'm not your Soulmate and there's someone else out there that you need to find."  
"And if you do love me?"  
"I don't."  
"So, basically, you still don't believe me and you think that one day I'll realize you're not enough and I'll leave. No…that's not quite right. You're afraid you won't be enough and that I _won't_ leave."

"W-what makes you think that?"  
"You've always been a terrible liar. Look me right in the eyes and tell me you don't love me and that you want me to leave right now."

She meets my eyes and opens her mouth to speak. It closes and she opens it to try again.

"Soul. I don't love you. Please, just go now and leave me be."  
"Alright. I'll do as you say."

I turn and make my way towards my room.

I know she's lying about not loving me but I know she's serious right now about wanting me to leave. She just needs some time.

No. I'm an idiot.

I stop halfway down the hall and turn back. I go back to where Maka is and stop in front of her.

"I changed my mind."  
Last chance.

I take her hand and lean down so I'm eye level with her. I press my lips to hers just briefly and pull back to watch her eyes.

They stare back into mine and they become glossy as I feel her fingers interlock with mine.

"I'm never leaving. You're my Soulmate and I'll always be here to comfort and care for you whether you need it and want it or not."

"You need to think about this, Soul. I'm no good to love."  
"There's no thinking when it comes to love. Don't you know that? Did you ever go over the pros and cons of loving me or did it just happen?"  
"I-it just happened."  
"Exactly. I don't give a damn about what you can or can't do. You're you and that's all that matters."  
"W-what about sex! I can't have sex with you."  
"So what?"  
"What do you mean, so what?!"

"Lots of guys go their entire lives without sex. I'm okay with that as long as I'm with you."  
"You love me too much."  
"I love you with my all."  
"How can I get you to leave?"  
"Kill me."  
She whacks me on the shoulder with a shocked expression marring her features.

"There's my firey girl!"

She leans her forehead on the same shoulder and I can feel her body relax.

"You'll really stay."  
It wasn't a question.

"Yes."

"Then I've got no choice but to love you back."  
"You already do."  
"Yeah, I do."  
"You're an idiot though."  
"How so?"  
"You went a whole month planning to get me to leave, didn't you? Thinking you weren't a woman and wouldn't be enough of one or enough of a partner for me."

"What else would I have done?"  
"You could have not shut me out for a month and you could have more faith in me and yourself. You think six whole years of us being together wouldn't be enough?"

"I did."  
"But you understand now, right?"  
"Yeah. I do."  
"Good."  
I tilt her head back and kiss her again. This time she kisses back and wraps her arms around my neck.

Maybe things won't be so bad.

April

After two months Maka has mastered the wheelchair and has found a sort of game in running into people from behind. She mostly likes to take out Black Star and he returns the favour by pushing her chair around recklessly and spinning her until she's dizzy.

Despite all this, however, I know she's only doing it to cover up the loss she feels when people talk about missions and other things she can't do.

She smiles a lot and I know she's trying and getting better at accepting her situation but I know she's having a hard time none-the-less.

She barely held back tears when someone broke her record for sprinting in gym and she looks away every time I get a partner request.

It's hard to watch her struggle but at the same time it's okay because I can see tiny improvements as every day goes by. I wish she could see them though.

April

Her fourth month is the hardest. Her improvements come to a halt and she goes through an angry faze for awhile.

I almost feel bad for the girl who asked to be my partner. Almost.

"Soul, did you get the letter I left in your locker?"  
"I must have missed it, sorry."  
"Oh, well, I just wanted to know if you were ready to take on another Meister yet."  
Maka wheeled her way in between us and gave her coldest glare to the girl.

"Leave."  
"This is none of our business, Maka."  
"Really? You think so?"

"Yeah. You're no Meister so don't go telling me you're still his."  
"Why do you want to be Soul's partner? 'Cause he's hot? 'Cause you want to be his girlfriend?"  
"Well, I wouldn't say no if he asked me."  
"Is it because he's a Death Scythe? Because let me remind you who turned him into one."

"Doesn't matter who did it. You're useless now."  
"Tell me why you want him. Is it because you think he's single?"  
Right. We haven't told anyone we're together yet. Maka doesn't want to deal with anything else right now and hate mail from my fangirls is not something she needs.

"He is though."  
"Think again, you gold digging slut!"

Yeah, my girlfriend's hot.

"Don't tell me you're-  
"I am so back the hell away from my boyfriend!"

"Alright, is your little catfight over yet? I'm hungry."

Maka gives one final glare to the sputtering blonde and I lean down and kiss her on the cheek.

"Let's go, love, you've made your point."  
"Alright, let's go."

May

Maka has no more outbursts and she seems to be getting along fine.

Our friends, of course, freaked out when word got out that we were together and freaked out even more when we told them we'd been a thing for three months and had been going out on little dates ever since.

(I avoided taking her to any places where you could dance and I think she caught on and was grateful for it.)

This month Maka was chosen as the Valedictorian for our graduation and was more excited than I've seen her in a while. She spent a lot of time writing her speech and perfecting it. She wanted it to be inspirational but entertaining at the same time.

"I want to make a point but I want everyone to listen." She said to me out afternoon while we sat on the couch; I watching TV and she with a notepad in her lap.

June

We are to graduate at the end of this month. Maka writes and rewrites her speech and locks herself away in her room to read it so I won't hear it until the day of the ceremony.

I try to sneak to her door and listen in but her Soul perception abilities always catch me.

I hear a loud thump as I walk by her door one day and when I go to rush in the door is, yet again, locked.

"Maka."  
"I'm okay, don't worry."  
"Be careful, okay? I don't want you to get hurt."  
"Yeah, I'll be more careful."

As the ceremony nears everyone in our year becomes more and more excited and Maka seems the most ecstatic of us all.

"Got your speech memorized?"

"Yupp. All in here." She points to her temple.

"One week until we graduate. How does it feel?"  
"It's kinda sad. I'm going to miss this place."  
"Why don't you accept Shinigami's offer?"  
"I might, but I'm not sure yet. I don't know if I'll me able to teach here."

"I understand, but think about it okay?"  
"What have you decided? Are you taking Justin's old position or are you going to stay here?"  
"Do you really need to ask that?"  
"Well, we never talked about it. You just told me what Shinigami said, not what you decided."  
"I'm obviously staying here with you. Who's going to get cups from the top shelf for you and your short ass?"  
"Don't you mean anything from any shelf?"  
"Yeah, but I wasn't going to say it."  
Somehow Maka's managed to accept fully that she can't walk and is unfazed now and even comical when it comes to her being in a wheelchair. She even let me put a sticker saying 'They see me rollin'' on the back of her chair along with many other decoration and designs that we spent an afternoon adorning it with.

She's come a long way.

It's the day of our ceremony. We've each gotten our diplomas and specific awards and it's finally time for Maka's speech.

She wheels her way up onto the stage and I follow her up to her strange request.

She's dressed in a floor length red dress and I match her with the same suit and tie that I wear in our black room.

Maka takes my hands and I almost let go in surprise when she moves her feet off of their rests.

She uses me to pull herself up and I can't help it but I know my jaw is slack and my mouth is open uncooly.

"Maka…"  
"Yeah?"

She tries to pull her hands from mine but I can't seem to let go.

"You…  
"You can let go. I won't fall."

I release her hands and she doesn't fall, as she said.

She steps to me and goes up on her toes to kiss me. It's short and sweet and she walks over to the podium once she pulls away.

I'm so shocked. I need to sit and I do so in the very chair Maka spent most of her last six months in.

"So, we've been on one hell of a ride together. There are so many powerful and all around fantastic people here right now and some that we unfortunately lost along the way. Each and every one of us make up and important part of Shibusen and we'll all carry a part of it even now that we're graduating.

I know that I, myself, will be taking everything I learned here with me. All the skills I learned and all the knowledge that was taught to me by our bizarre collection of teachers.

I hope that you learn something from me right now and take it with you too. Don't ever give up. Keep working your ass off for want you want and you just might get it."

Maka takes her hat and throws it up and we all follow her lead.

I finally stand form the chair and make my way over to her.

"What the hell?"  
"Too short? It was a lot longer but I cut it down because I didn't want to be boring."  
"Maka! You're supposed to never walk again and you get up like it's nothing! How the hell would you ever think that's boring?!"

"Just shut up and kiss me."  
I can do that. I would do anything for this woman. No matter how insane she is.

I pull her to me by her hips and kiss her hotly. She kisses me back with the same energy and we do so until a certain Shinigami taps us both on the shoulder.

"Hey, Shinigami."  
"Don't call me that. We've been friends for too long for you to call me that."  
"Okay, Kid, what's up?"  
"You have some explaining to do."  
"I've been working really hard. I wanted to walk so I did."

"Why didn't you tell anyone?"  
"I wanted to surprise you all."  
"Well, you certainly did that."  
"I'd love to chat, but we've got somewhere to be."  
"Then I'll see you both later."

Kid leaves and I turn my gaze to Maka.

"Where do we have to be?"  
"Home."  
The devilish look in her eyes was the only convincing I needed.

AN/ So, I forgot to note this when I first published this. This story was loosely inspired by the song Impossible by Joe Nichols; great song and singer.

Also to the people who messaged me about updating soon: This is it. There are no updates.

And finally: thank you all for reading and it would be kick-ass if you reviewed!


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